Abstract

An optical interconnect transmitter based on guided-wave silicon optical bench is demonstrated. The guided-wave silicon optical bench (GW-SiOB) is developed on a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrate. The three-dimensional guided-wave optical paths on the silicon optical bench are realized using trapezoidal waveguides monolithically integrated with 45° micro-reflectors. Such three-dimensional guided-w ave optical paths of SiOB would simplify and shrink the intra-chip optical interconnects located on a SOI substrate. The clearly open eye patterns operated at a data rate of 5 Gbps verifies the proposed GW-SiOB is suitable for intra-chip optical interconnects.

The simulated light-propagation and its intensity profile evolution in the proposed structure using the ray tracing method. (a) The light propagation along the SOI-based trapezoidal waveguide bend. (b) Intensity profile at the emitting area of VCSEL. (c) Intensity profile at the 45° micro-reflector facet. (d) Intensity profile in the trapezoidal waveguide. (e) Intensity profile in the facet of MMF.